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Council approves ordinance on nuisance buildings

Clinton council

approves nuisance buildings ordinance

The Clinton City Council approved an ordinance last week that will shorten the time it takes to condemn a nuisance building.

In answer to a question from Councilman Johnny Moore as to why the ordinance was needed, Mayor Roger Rorie noted that a building on Highway 65B and Main Street burned three years ago and is still standing. “We need to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Rorie said.

Zoning chief Dwight Wilson said the ordinance will speed up the process and give the city more authority.

“This,” Wilson said, “takes care of a lot of gray area.”

The ordinance, approved unanimously, is No. 2013-08.

A second ordinance passed at the July 11 meeting, concerned the new library to be built on Factory Road on land donated by the Warren family. The ordinance states that the library will be owned by White River Planning and Development and leased to the county. The city will have nothing to do with library operations but because the land is in city limits, the ordinance was necessary, Rorie said. That ordinance is No. 2013-09.

Also at the meeting, Water Department Manager Isaac Keeling said the treatment plant used $15,924 worth of chemicals in a month, up $11,000 from last year’s figure. The reason, he said, was turbidity. Keeling said the system saw a 48 percent water loss because of leaks and tank overruns. He said he wanted the tanks filled so that the department could cut back flow if turbidity stayed high. Most of the overrun was in the so-called Million Gallon Tank on Culpepper.

Keeling also reported that no work had yet started on the sewage problem on School Hill.

In old business, the council heard from Jackie Sikes, who first approached the council in January asking for some sort of speed control near the school after her granddaughter was hit by a car in December. The girl was not seriously injured.

Sikes said she wanted to know where the council was on adding speeding bumps or humps in the area. Councilwoman Gayla Bradley said she picked up some pamphlets on recycled bumps that cost $110 for a six-foot section and could be delivered within a week.

Councilwoman Nina Baker, who is assigned along with Moore to look into the situation, said she has been looking at other schools and she and Moore think flashing lights would be beneficial.

Rorie instructed the two to bring prices for flashing lights to the next meeting.